Four villages fear flooding as Kopotakkho river erodes embankment

Villagers have been reinforcing weakened sections with soil as tidal pressure threatens homes, farmland and fish enclosures, while officials say emergency embankment work remains suspended.

Fear has gripped four villages in Satkhira’s Tala upazila as erosion along the Kopotakkho River threatens an embankment, with residents guarding the structure for three days. No action has yet been seen from the administration.

At the site, residents were seen carrying baskets filled with soil and shovels, while keeping watch along the riverbank through the night.

People in Balia village of Khesra Union in Tala upazila are spending their days this way as new cracks have appeared in the river’s embankment. Thousands of people in Balia, Shubhankarkathi, Tegharia and Srimantakathi villages fear the embankment could collapse at any moment under pressure from tidal water.

On Saturday night, a section of the embankment in Balia village broke under intense pressure from tidal water. Owners of fish enclosures inside the nearby wetland noticed the breach first and quickly returned to the village, where they announced the danger over the mosque loudspeaker.

Men, women and children woke up and rushed to the riverbank carrying baskets and shovels. Through their collective efforts, they temporarily repaired the broken section and prevented water from entering the settlement. Although the village was saved that night, the danger has not passed.

A visit to the area on Wednesday morning found two more cracks in the embankment. Water was seeping through into the inner side. For three days, villagers have been taking turns guarding the embankment and trying to strengthen the weak points with soil. But they are uncertain how long the repairs will hold because of a shortage of manpower and materials.

Local resident Nazmin Akter said that if residents had not reached the site in time at night, homes and fish enclosures would by now have been inundated with saline water.

She said that after the new cracks appeared, residents had called the Bangladesh Water Development Board, political leaders and the administration for three days, but no one had come to inspect the site.

If the embankment collapses, more than a hundred homes in Balia and the neighbouring villages of Shubhankarkathi, Tegharia and Srimantakathi will be flooded, while extensive fish enclosures and farmland will be submerged, she said. She fears the losses could exceed Tk 1 billion.

Balia residents Habibur Rahman Gazi and Jamal Uddin said that when dredging of the Kopotakkho River began about 12 to 13 years ago, local residents demanded that the river be dredged according to the Cadastral Survey (CS) map.

The Bangladesh Water Development Board initially worked for two days according to the CS map before stopping. It then continued dredging along the existing course, causing the Kopotakkho to shift from its natural course towards the populated area of Balia village, they said.

As a result, the river became unusually deep along the Balia section, they said.

At the same time, implementation of the Tidal River Management (TRM) project in the area made the river more fast-flowing. But the Water Development Board did not build a permanent flood-control embankment there.

As a result, sections of the embankment at two points beside the TRM connecting canal break every year under pressure from tidal water, flooding extensive areas. This has caused losses worth crores of taka to farmers and fish-enclosure owners, residents said.

Despite repeated written applications, meetings and human chains, no permanent solution has been found to date, they said.

Khesra Union Parishad Chairman Kamrul Islam Laltu said several points of the embankment in Balia village were vulnerable and new cracks had appeared.

If the embankment breaks, the entire area will be submerged by saline water, he said.

He said the matter had been reported to the Water Development Board and the upazila administration, but no effective action had yet been taken.

The villagers’ only demand is that the vulnerable embankment be repaired immediately as an emergency measure and that the Balia section of the Kopotakkho River be dredged again according to the CS map, followed by construction of a permanent and sustainable embankment, he said.

Abdur Rahman Tazkia, executive engineer of the Satkhira Water Development Board, said he was aware of the situation involving the embankment in Balia and had previously inspected the site.

He said that after a request from the local member of parliament, he had gone there and initially received permission for preliminary work, but the permission was later cancelled.

Under instructions from the ministry, emergency works are currently suspended across the country, making it impossible to carry out work there for now, he said.

Work on the embankment will be possible once funds are allocated again by the ministry, he said.